Staff

Co-Director

Frances Kunreuther

Frances Kunreuther co-directs the Building Movement Project, strengthening U.S. nonprofits as sites of civic engagement and social change. She is co-author of two books, From the Ground Up: Grassroots Organizations Making Social Change (Cornell, 2006) and Working Across Generations: Defining the Future of Nonprofit Leadership (Jossey Bass, 2009). Frances was a senior fellow at the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University for five years and is currently affiliated with the Research Center for Leadership and Action at NYU where she also teaches. In the 1990s, Frances headed the Hetrick-Martin Institute for LBGT youth and was awarded an Annie E. Casey Foundation Fellowship for her work with homeless youth and families, undocumented immigrants, crime victims, battered women, and substance users. She writes and presents frequently on issues related to nonprofits, leadership, and social change.

Co-Director

Sean Thomas-Breitfeld

Sean Thomas-Breitfeld co-directs the Building Movement Project, with a special focus on BMP’s work on service and social change. Prior to joining the BMP staff, Sean spent a decade working in various roles at the Center for Community Change (CCC). At CCC, he developed training programs for grassroots leaders, worked in CCC’s communications and policy departments where he coordinated online and grassroots advocacy efforts, and lobbied on a range of issues, including immigration reform, transportation equity, and anti-poverty programs. Before joining the center, Sean worked as a policy analyst at the National Council of La Raza, where he focused on employment and income security issues. Sean holds a Master’s in Public Administration from NYU’s Wagner School of Public Service and a bachelor’s degree in social work and multicultural studies from St. Olaf College in Minnesota.

Senior Research Associate

Ofronama Biu

As senior research associate, Ofronama works on national projects focused on leadership, including Race to Lead reports, service and social change, and movement building. She also works on place-based projects in Detroit and New Mexico. Previously, Ofronama was a senior research associate at the NYC Labor Market Information Service at the CUNY Graduate Center where she directed research projects on trends impacting the social services and middle-skill healthcare workforce. Ofronama has over 10 years’ experience in higher education and nonprofit organizations. Her experience includes project management, program evaluation, partnership building, employer engagement, and direct service to participants. She co-founded a nonprofit organization that connects youth to media professionals for skills-building and mentoring opportunities. Ofronama is a Ph.D. candidate at the Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy at The New School. Her research interests include labor market and workforce development policies and racial stratification. She obtained a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the NYU College of Arts and Science and a Masters of Public Administration from the NYU Wagner School of Public Service.

Director, Detroit Peoples Platform

Linda S. Campbell

Linda Campbell works on Building Movement Project’s Nonprofits and Social Change project with groups in Detroit, Michigan, and throughout the U.S. and Canada. Linda leads Building Movement Detroit and provides technical assistance and capacity building to nonprofit agencies and resident-led organizations. Prior to her consulting work, Linda served in a variety of senior and executive positions in the nonprofit and government sectors. She was the executive director for one of NYC’s oldest AIDS service organizations, Minority Task Force on AIDS, and a senior director at both the Michigan Public Health Institute and the National Center for Health Education. She served as a founding board member for several community-based nonprofits. In the past two years, Linda has provided planning assistance to local African American Health Institute initiatives in Michigan. Linda holds a master’s degree in public health from the University of Michigan.

Research Analyst

Tessa Constantine

After working with the Building Movement Project as the research and data intern, Tessa joined the BMP staff full-time as a research analyst. Before joining BMP, Tessa worked as a student researcher at Carthage College where she collaborated with the Shalom Center local food pantry, using data analysis and mapping software to target areas of need in the local inner city, eventually establishing a series of hot meal sites for local food pantry recipients. Tessa has four years of research experience, including a series of large-scale surveys on perceptions of diversity, equity, and inclusion within a higher education campus community. Tessa received a bachelor’s degree in sociology and psychology from Carthage College in Kenosha, W.I. in 2018 and her master’s from Columbia University in sociology in 2019, where her research interests mainly centered on indigenous peoples’ rights, particularly indigenous language revitalization.

Senior Advisor and Director of Solidarity Is

Deepa Iyer

Deepa Iyer is a Senior Advisor at Building Movement Project and Director of Solidarity Is, a project that provides training, narratives, and resources on building deep and lasting multiracial solidarity. Iyer is a South Asian American writer, lawyer, strategist, facilitator, and activist whose areas of expertise include the post 9/11 America experiences of South Asian, Muslim, Arab and Sikh immigrants, immigration and civil rights policies, and racial equity and solidarity practices. Iyer has worked at various national and local organizations with a focus on immigrant and racial justice. She served as executive director of South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT) for a decade and has also held positions at Race Forward, the US Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, the Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center, and the Asian American Justice Center. Iyer’s first book, We Too Sing America: South Asian, Arab, Muslim and Sikh Immigrants Shape Our Multiracial Future (The New Press 2015), received a 2016 American Book Award. She hosts a podcast called Solidarity Is This to explore solidarity practices around the country. Iyer has received fellowships from Open Society Foundations and the Social Change Initiative, and in 2019, she received an honorary doctoral degree from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. Iyer serves on the Advisory Council of the Emergent Fund, which resources grassroots organizing and power building in communities of color who are facing injustice based on racial, ethnic, religious, and other forms of discrimination. An immigrant who moved to Kentucky from India when she was twelve, Iyer graduated from the University of Notre Dame Law School and Vanderbilt University.

Project Assistant

Catherine Foley

Catherine joined the Building Movement Project in 2019 as the Project Assistant.

In addition to serving as the Administrative and Social Media Intern at BMP in 2016, Catherine has worked extensively in the editorial field, including with digital news platforms, Heather Jackson Literary Agency, and Oxford University Press. While at OUP, she served as Editorial Assistant and then Assistant Editor on projects within the African American Studies Center, Oxford Islamic Studies Online, Oxford Biblical Studies Online, and Grove Art Online. Catherine graduated from New York University with a degree in English and American Literature as well as a minor in Spanish, and her studies and passions have focused on the ways science fiction, and language itself, can inform and drive social justice movements.

New Mexico Coordinator

Leah Steimel

Leah Steimel coordinates New Mexico-based program efforts for Building Movement Project and has guided the development and implementation of the Common Good Action Project (CGAP) since its inception in 2015. Steimel has worked in the field of community health for over 30 years, with an emphasis on program design and policy advocacy to serve underserved and marginalized populations. After working in Latin America for eight years, she moved to New Mexico in 1995 where she led programs and initiatives at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center focused on addressing health disparities and access to care for immigrants, Native Americans, and adults living in poverty. Steimel then served as executive director of a non-profit organization serving immigrants in southeast Albuquerque, and as executive director of a free clinic for uninsured children in Santa Fe, NM, before returning to UNM in 2006 as founding director of the Office of Community Affairs.  There, she facilitated broad stakeholder participation in program planning and advocacy to leverage public funding for a new community-based program to connect poor and disconnected adults to health and social services. The program, Pathways to a Healthy Bernalillo County, has continuously operated through local nonprofit organizations for over 10 years and has served thousands of adults in the city. Steimel formed an independent consultant business in 2013 and works with nonprofit organizations and government entities. Steimel received a Master’s degree from Tulane University School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine in 1989.

Networks and Learning Practice Coordinator

Olivia Peña

Olivia Peña is excited to support communities and networks across the country as the Networks and Learning Practice Coordinator. Before joining the Building Movement Project, Olivia supported food security initiatives across the state of Vermont through outreach, capacity building for social service providers, and advocacy to strengthen access to SNAP, WIC, and school meal programs. She studied at the University of Vermont, earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Food Systems in 2017, and a Master’s Degree in Food Systems in 2018. Olivia has supported and published research on state, regional, national, and international levels on topics including community engagement, resilience, advocacy, and climate change mitigation. As a passionate community advocate, Olivia is committed to supporting equity and access to basic human needs such as food, housing, and healthcare.